موقع وجه أفريقيا موقع وجه أفريقيا هو موقع مهتم بمتابعة التطورات في القارة الأفريقية
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Al Jazeera
United States President Donald Trump has said “many countries” will dispatch warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, without offering details about which states are on board.
This comes as the waterway that carries a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas remains effectively closed on the 15th day of the US and Israel’s war on Iran.
Writing on Truth Social on Saturday, Trump said nations “especially those affected by Iran’s attempted closure” of the strait would be sending warships “in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe,” naming China, France, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom among those he hoped would contribute.
In the post, Trump asserted that the US had “already destroyed 100% of Iran’s Military capability,” while conceding in the same breath that Tehran could still “send a drone or two, drop a mine, or deliver a close range missile” along the waterway.
He pledged that in the meantime, the US would be “bombing the hell out of the shoreline, and continually shooting Iranian Boats and Ships out of the water,” promising to get the strait “OPEN, SAFE, and FREE.”
In response, Alireza Tangsiri, the navy chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said “the Strait of Hormuz has not yet been militarily closed and is merely under control”.
In a post on X, he hit back against Trump’s comments, saying: “Americans falsely claimed the destruction of Iran’s navy. Then they falsely claimed the escorting of oil tankers. Now they’re even asking others for backup forces.”
Last week, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told US news outlet CNBC that the US was not ready to do escorts for ships through the strait itself.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi clarified that the strait was only closed to “tankers and ships of enemies and their allies,” not all shipping, while Mohsen Rezaee, a member of Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council, an influential body close to the supreme leader, said, “No American ship has the right to enter the Gulf.”
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher has warned that “millions of people are at risk” if humanitarian cargo cannot pass safely through the strait.
Hegseth dismissed suggestions that the Pentagon had been caught off guard by the strait’s closure on Saturday. “We have been dealing with it, and don’t need to worry about it,” he said.
